The Spurs and Thunder will settle the Western Conference Finals in Game 7, with the NBA live stream set for 8 p.m. ET on NBC or Peacock. After six games built around big scoring nights from Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the series has reached the last possible stop.
Castle and the Game 7 pull
Stephon Castle put the mood of the series in one line: “Who doesn’t want to play in a Game 7?” San Antonio now gets that chance after a stretch in which both teams traded control and neither side produced a runaway edge.
The first six games turned into a straight duel between the two stars. Whichever of Wembanyama or Gilgeous-Alexander scored more in a game, that player’s team won every time except Game 3, when both finished with 26 and Oklahoma City still took the game.
Wembanyama and Gilgeous-Alexander
Wembanyama set the tone early with 41 points and 24 rebounds in Game 1, then added 33 points in Game 4 and 28 points in 28 minutes in Game 6. He scored 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting in the first half of Game 6 alone, but the Thunder still survived long enough to force a seventh game.
Gilgeous-Alexander answered with 30 points in Game 2 and 32 in Game 5, both Oklahoma City wins. He has shot 37.9% in the series, and he said of his looks, “A lot of the shots that I’m shooting, I’ve shot plenty of times before and they feel good. They’re just not going in.” He added, “But it’s too late to abandon my work and abandon my game and who I am. This late in the season, I got to trust it and live or die by it.”
Daigneault’s short rotation
Oklahoma City will play Game 7 without Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, forcing Mark Daigneault to keep leaning on a small group. His starting five the last couple of games was Gilgeous-Alexander, Jared McCain, Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.
Dort has struggled offensively, shooting 35.5% overall and 18.2% from 3. The Thunder have still built much of their season around turnovers and transition offense, while San Antonio has answered in this series by racing out to early leads and switching to a more straightforward defense led by Castle. That mix has left the matchup looking like a heavyweight fight between two powerhouses, and Game 7 now decides which one moves on.
